1/31/08

We're having a heat wave. It was above freezing today. In fact, the snow was melting very quickly. Large glomps of it were falling out of the trees. One tried to murder me when I walked down to the mailbox to check for mail. Stupid snow!

Thankfully, we did not get whomped last night as predicted. We woke up to about 3 inches of new snow. We get another break until Friday night. I'll take it!

Just before leaving for the cruise I joined the WOW! Sock Club (see side bar). Each month we're supposed to go into our stash and find a skein of sock yarn, take a pic of it, and post it on our blog. We don't have to actually knit it up. Just show it off. As sock clubs go, I figure that's pretty darn easy to do. Here is my first entry. This has been in my stash for about 5 months.

I really like Fearless Fibers sock yarn. My fingers love the feel of it. They are happy when I'm working with it. It comes in so many luscious colors too. I've already wound it into a ball and started a pair of socks for the daughters boyfriend last night. I'm taking a clue from Marguerite's blog. She's knitting a pair of socks in 7x1 rib. I really like how they look. Nice and masculine, yet dressy enough Frank can wear them to work.

1/30/08

Well, so much for "2 more inches". It turned out to be 8. It snowed hard all day long.

I had to get out to do something fun. The home environment was feeling overwhelmingly oppressive to me. So against my better judgment, I decided to go to bead group. Technically, bead group is me going to my friend Cindy's bead store and spending a couple hours or so chatting and beading with her. Once in awhile someone else will show up too, which makes it all the more fun. (We had a new gal come who is quite a card. She makes me laugh, so I hope she comes again.)

It took almost an hour to get my car out of the driveway. Lots of digging and cat litter (for traction). It is a testament to my determination to go somewhere that I actually succeeded in doing so. You may wonder why I had such a hard time after all the digging and blowing that was done on Monday. That's how much snow fell between when I got up and I left 4 hours later. It was really slippery snow too. Besides, my car is being really wimpy about it all. I don't think I like my new tires. They don't seem to have much traction in the snow.

About 2 miles from home I started wishing I hadn't gone out. The roads were downright scary. Especially on Highway 41, where the snow was racing horizontally and drifting like crazy. I persevered, though, and made it safe and sound to Cindy's shop, where we cried on each others shoulders over the amount of snow we find ourselves dealing with. Somehow it just made everything better being able to do that. I also finished a couple projects that I've had on the back burner for awhile. Cindy had some show and tell too. She recently got a new spinning wheel and she showed me some yarn she's working on. It's gorgeous. It's a blend of various fibers in blacks and whites, including some angora from a rabbit she used to have, named Granddad. It's very soft yarn. She also showed me some yarn she dyed with Kool Aid because I've been talking about trying that.

Driving home was even less fun. Anything over 25mph and the car would start squirreling around on the road. It took several tries before I made it back down the driveway to my parking spot in front of the house. I came in the house, exhausted, and collapsed in my chair for a nap.

I felt so bad when Sweet Hubby got home from work. I could see the frustration in his face. He's done nothing but move snow around for 4 days. He had to do yet another repair job on the snow blower, then spend 2.5 hours blowing snow out of the driveway and parking area. Under the circumstances, comfort food was needed. So I made fried chicken for dinner.

This morning I opened the door to let the boys out for their business and I was able to report to Sweet Hubby there is no new snow. Hurray! We get a break today. However, we have storm warnings for tonight. We're expecting another 8 to 10 inches overnight.

I suppose I should try to find positive things about this situation, and there is one good thing about it. The snow is now too deep for any Moose to come within a couple miles of my house.

I've been working on the Baby Surprise. It's been a bit of a challenge. I have learned some new things, including a new way to do Make 1's. The pattern is turning out to be quite clever. I see why it's so popular. I'll take pics of it later today. My camera battery is dead so I'm waiting for it to charge up.

1/29/08

It's relentless! It's cruel, unmerciful, cold hearted as they come! I'm talking about the snow. We've got 2 new inches and 2 more will fall before this afternoon. I swear, Sweet Hubby almost started crying when he got up this morning. He's developed a real hatred for the snow blower. (I think if it didn't keep breaking, he'd feel a bit differently.) At least it's the fluffy powdery kind this time. He says he has to replace a rubber ring before he can blow again. Thankfully, we have a spare one so we won't have to wait a week.

(insert pic of me shaking my fist at the clouds) Stupid snow!

I have managed to do a bit of knitting through all this. Just a bit. I have started the Baby Surprise jacket. It took 3 tries to get something I'm happy with. I am using worsted weight acrylic of unknown origin because it's a Knit Wits project. I didn't like how stiff the fabric was feeling in garter stitch, so I am doing a stockinette version based on notes I've found on a blog called Panda Man's Knitting Corner. I am quite pleased with the results so far.

I'm going to put stripes in it using the browns and purples I was using in the frogged baby pinwheel sweater.

I have also decided on February's sock project. I've got a beautiful skein of Fearless Fibers superwash merino sock yarn in the Sublime colorway which is warm shades of brown. I'm going to make another pair of socks for my daughters boyfriend, Frank. He absolutely loves the ones I gave him for Christmas. And since he treats my daughter so fine, and is such a sweety, I think he deserves another pair of my super deluxe hand knit socks. I'm going to do 7x1 rib I think. Something quick and easy.

1/28/08

On Friday some of the parts for the snowblower arrived by UPS. Totally weird-the ones that were backordered and sent last were the parts that came. The others did not. On Saturday morning Sweet Hubby got up and installed the parts he had, and jury rigged the rest. Around 10:30am it started snowing before he was done, so he knew we were gonna need the blower. Boy! Did we need it!

It snowed like crazy, at about an inch per hour, all day long, and all night long. When we got up Sunday morning there was 24 inches of new snow! Our power was out too-at the house and at the well. The snow was very wet and heavy, so trees and branches started breaking and crashing to the ground. Folks roofs started collapsing. The roads were a mess, and we had a MAJOR digging out job ahead of us.

I hate winter! Yeah, yeah, yeah... Snow can be pretty. I admit it. But the bother it creates isn't worth it. I'd be perfectly happy if I never see a snowflake again as long as I live.

I took pictures.

We'll start with this photo taken Saturday morning. This is the back deck and the garden fence behind it. See the horizontal boards of the fence about level with the snow? They're four feet above the ground. The snow hasn't been this deep since the winter of 1992/93.

This is after the first blowing and digging of Sunday morning. That's my car with the snow hat. The snow bank on the right side of it is much higher than that now.

This is my mailbox. It's level with the packed snow now. I have to bend down to look in it. When there is no snow it's 38 inches above the ground.

This is our driveway before the second dig and blow we did in the afternoon--because it snowed all day Sunday too, at a rate of about an inch an hour.

A view of our house. See all that snow on the roof? It was heavy snow.

It did this to the wall over the bedroom door. Yup! Those black arrows are pointing at 4 cracks in the wall.

Which led to some phone calls, followed by this. Brother in law Dan, sis in law Sue, daughter Sarah, daughters boyfriend Frank, and Sweet Hubby on the roof with shovels.

The view from the back of the house.

Another shoveling and snow blow job was done to the front steps, driveway, and parking area before Dan and Sue went home. By the time the sun set, none of us wanted to even hear the words snow, shovel, or blower again. Snow is now a 4 letter word!

There are some who would say what we went through would be all worth it upon waking up this morning and seeing this:

The view down our driveway from the living room window.

Down the hill where the satellite dishes are located.

The view to the east of the house:

The view to the southwest of the house.

Personally, I think those people are nut cases. Yeah, I admit it. It's gorgeous. But I still hate snow.

Have a great evening.

ETA to add: We got our power to the house back about noon on Saturday. The power to the well house didn't come back on until this evening. I am so enjoying flushing the toilet.

1/25/08

We got good news this morning from Sears. The back ordered snow blower parts were shipped just hours after the first shipment of non-back ordered parts. They should all arrive today. The weatherman still says snow tomorrow-and for the next 5 days afterwards. It's already clouding up out there. I'm looking forward to the heat wave (it'll get above 20 degrees F!).

I'm about a third done with the foot of the ILG sock. I worked on it last night and it was one of those occasions where I knit and knit and knit and didn't seem to be making much progress. I hate it when that happens.

Over in the side bar I have listed my current WIP's that I'm actually working on right now. One of them is the Baby Pinwheel Sweater. I've frogged it. It looks really cute in the pattern photos, but I just didn't like it for some reason, so I've decided to make it into something else. I have been surfing Ravelry for ideas and I think I'm going to try the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. As a rule, I'm not a Zimmerman fan, but I have to admit I'm intrigued by this pattern. I looked at what other Ravelry members have done with it and now I'm all excited about it. My favorite variations featured ribbed cuffs, a collar, and one person even added a hood to it. So cute! The pattern is in her book the Opinionated Knitter.I have added a new free pattern to my other blog, Beadknitter Patterns. It's a hat pattern that I designed for my shop a few years ago. I used to give it out free with a yarn purchase. I call it the Duggles Hat because when I made one similar for Sweet Hubby (Doug) he loved it. He wore it a LOT. For the most part, my hubby doesn't like knitted stuff. He won't wear sweaters, hates hand knit socks (I know, how did we end up together?), I find it hard to find things to knit for him. This was one of my very few Doug successes. The hat has a very long top that can be wrapped around the neck as a scarf. So it's a double purpose garment. I've done this hat using a fairisle pattern instead of stripes a few times. It turns out really cute that way. I've often thought some kind of simple texture pattern in a contrasting solid color would look good too. So let your imagination run free.

1/24/08

Our snowblower is broken again. Two weekends ago it was broken. It took a week for the parts to get here. During that week we had beautiful weather. Actually got to see the sunshine and blue skies. Not one flake of snow fell. On last Saturday morning Sweet Hubby installed the new parts. Literally immediately after he finished it started snowing like crazy. By Sunday morning we had 6 inches of new snow. He dutifully blew it all out of the places we don't want snow. Then the snowblower broke. It hasn't dropped a flake since.

The parts have been ordered. We were told they'd be here Friday. So, we've had sunshine and blue skies all week, and some really really subarctic temperatures. The kind of cold that makes the snow squeak when you walk on it. The kind of cold where you can't get warm even with two major-heat generating Italian Greyhounds under the blankets with you. The kind of cold that makes my car start reluctantly (I have a Toyota Prius, which is a hybrid). The kind of cold that makes everyone dress so they look like colorful Pillsbury Dough boys. The kind of cold that causes ice on the inside of your double paned argon gas windows. Sheesh! Not even my menopausal hot flashes are keeping me warm!

Yesterday we were informed some of the parts are on back order. No estimate when they'll be in. The weatherman says it's gonna start snowing on Saturday. Sigh........

Second bad news item. I found out someone stole the House of Needlecraft logo, of which I own all copyrights lock stock and barrel.

On Monday morning I was browsing the forums on Ravelry when I spotted something shocking. Someone was using my logo for her Ravatar (avatar on Ravelry). I immediately emailed her. She was very nice about it. She told me she found the graphic on someone's blog and gave me the url for it. I visited the blog and discovered that person was using it as a graphic on t-shirts she was selling in a Cafe Press shop. I emailed her.

She got back to me right away. She was most apologetic and explained she'd obtained the graphic from an online clipart service and she was told it was copyright free. She also removed the graphic from her blog and discontinued the shirts. I am very grateful to her. She was so incredibly nice about the whole thing.

Next, I checked out the clipart service. Sure enough, there it is, in their collection of knitting clip art. I've emailed them. At this point I have not heard back from them. The interesting thing is that in all the places I've found my logo so far, it's strangely just a tad blurry. I know why too.

When we were setting up the web site for my shop back in 1999 I took a very sharp large color version of the logo, reduced it to two colors, then shrunk it's size. This caused it to blur a little bit. We used that blurred version on the web site from 1999 until we shut it down at the end of 2001. Every single blurring pixel of that graphic matches the one on the clipart service exactly-like a fingerprint. Obviously, someone liked it so much they stole a copy and probably sold it to the online clipart service.

The scope of this problem has become overwhelming. There is no telling how many people have downloaded my logo from the clipart service and used it. I've found it on blog entries from as far back as 4 years ago. How is it that I never came across it before this? The size of the internet is enormous. I'm just now realizing how enormous! There is no way I'm gonna be able to track it all down.

The fact a clipart service has it and is benefiting from it financially is rankling me to no end. But is it really worth it to go after them? Do I want to hire lawyers and whatnot? Do I want to spend a lot of time and money dealing with this problem? I'm not using the logo right now. I probably won't use it ever again, but at the same time it's MY logo. I paid for that logo, and though I didn't pay a lot for it, it still belongs to me! I might find a use for it somewhere down the line.

So what do I do??? Double sigh...

On the good news front:

I've turned the heel on the second ILG sock and I'm buzzing down the gusset. I am really enjoying the knitting of this sock too.

Good news 2--I got to use my paint ball gun on Miss Molly Moose. She was out back a couple nights ago--standing too close to the satellite dishes for my taste. We'll see if she returns.

Now, some finished items.

I've joined another bead weaving swap. The theme for this one is purple. We can make up to 5 jewelry items (necklace, bracelet, earrings) for the swap. They all have to be at least mostly purple. I have until the end of February to get them done. I've finished my first two items, both necklaces.

This first one is the Coiling Minerva Spiral from Minerva Spirals, a new book I got. I think I've mentioned it on this blog before. (I ordered it last November from the publisher over in England). I used size 11 beads in 3 colors: dark transparent purple, transparent medium red violet, and silver lined clear.

I really really really am enjoying this book. It's very well written and provides dozens and dozens of variations on the basic Minerva spiral.

The second necklace I call The 84 Cent Focal Bead Necklace

I bought that great big although ugly, still, it's purple, focal bead for 84 cents, then determined to beautify it. I think I've succeeded.

The spiral part is tubular spiral herringbone stitch flattened out to make a ribbon. I used size 11 cream seeds, size 11 silver lined amethyst seeds, and size 10 brown hex beads for that part. The rest is assorted sizes and shapes of brown, amber, and purple beads along with some cream fresh water pearls. I am going to have a hard time sending this baby in to the swap cos I'm really loving it.

Have a great day.

ETA 3pm: Just heard from the clipart service. They're going to investigate.

1/21/08

It's official. The government is run by complete idiots! Let me prove my point.

I used to have a yarn shop. In January of 2006 I had to close my business. You have no idea what a person must go through with the government to close a business. The piles of forms to fill out!! To make sure I did it all correctly, I called every National, State, and Local government agency I'd dealt with during the course of having my shop and got detailed instructions and all the forms to fill out. It took me a few weeks to get them all done and sent. Fortunately, I've dealt with government agencies before and had the good sense to make copies of every single form, and kept detailed notes on when and where they were sent-all carefully and conveniently filed so I could find what I needed easily, and often, if necessary.

As the months have gone by, I have received notices for almost every single form from almost every single agency accusing me of not filing those forms. Some have even wanted to charge me penalties for my sin. Until last Friday, it was all but one. But a letter and various forms to fill out for the last one who's reputation had not been sullied has arrived. According to the IRS, my business has been open all of 2007, I've been paying wages and collecting withholding, and not sending it on to them. If they can provide proof my business is still there, then I demand they give me my share of the income it made. Jeez! The place I had it in doesn't even exist anymore! Sometimes I wonder if the government lives and operates on the same planet, or dimension, as the rest of us.

(Insert picture of me banging my head on the dining room table and wailing a keening sound. Or is it keening a wailing sound?)

Every form has either been lost, misfiled, or completely ignored. And people wonder why our country is in such a mess.

I've spent the afternoon making copies of all the forms I sent to them originally with all the pertinent information circled with bright red ink and a detailed letter explaining what it all means and why they're a bunch of dunderheads, along with the additional forms they want me to fill out now (which I admit I just wrote across each page in red ink "NO BUSINESS!!!!") .

A thought has just occurred to me. For every form I originally sent in I have had to make copies and send them in again along with additional forms. What ever happened to the Paper Reduction Act??

There, I've had my little rant. I feel much better. Back to the ILG socks. I started the first one before the holidays. I took it with me on the cruise but only managed to knit 4 rows.

Last week a feeling of panic set in. If I want a J next to my name in the SAM5KAL, I better get knitting. I worked on them feverishly last week. Saturday evening I finished the first sock.

1/20/08

There are a couple things I'd like to mention regarding the first part of our cruise.

1) We were not charged for my visit to the ship doctor. The cruise line takes Noravirus very seriously because it is so contagious. So, in order to encourage folks to visit the doctor for gastrointestinal problems, the visit is free. If medication is required, you have to pay for that. But the meds for this virus are darn cheap, and I'd have paid 1000 times more for them.

2) Regarding the kayak excursion disaster. Everyone in our tour group filed a complaint upon returning to the ship. So we were refunded half the cost of the excursion. I would have liked it all back, but half was better than nothing.

Now, on to better things. On New Years Eve Day morning (try saying that 3 times fast) we docked in Puerto Vallarta. Upon stepping out onto the balcony to see what PV looked like, I saw this. Yup! That's a Walmart behind that Pirate Ship.

We got off the ship and waited around on the dock for our shore excursion call. We were scheduled to go on the Las Calitas Hideaway Trip, but it was gonna be an hour before we were needed. There was a nice little park with a large cage full of parrots. We walked along a path behind the cage and found Jack. Ruth is talking to Jack.

Jack was extremely friendly. He even let us scratch his back and got on my hand for a minute. His owner told us he was 14 years old.

Eventually, they were asking for our tour group. The Las Calitas Hideaway was a trip on a party boat, with an open bar, to a little jungle hideaway south of PV where we were promised food, an open bar, snorkeling, a gorgeous beach, and fun fun fun in the sun. They delivered! In fact, we had a blast!

As soon as the boat got under way they were handing out Margueritas and Mexican Beer like it was free! Well, in a way it was, cos it was drink all you want. Not only that, but cute Mexican fellows were delivering it. I drank!

I don't usually drink regular Marguerita's because they are thick with lime juice. As a rule, I've been allergic to citrus fruit all my life. Severely allergic. Especially oranges and lemons. I just have assumed limes were included. So I usually opt for Strawberry Marguerita's. However, Strawberry was not available, so I took a chance. Lo and behold, I am NOT allergic to limes! No one is more surprised than me!

Sue and I did our part to lighten the Tequila load on the boat. We also talked daughter Ruth into trying one. Technically, she's underage in the US, but not in Mexico. She soon discovered she likes Marguerita's too, so she joined our efforts.

On the way to Las Calitas, our boat captain took a side trip. It wasn't on the program, he just decided to do it because he'd been told Hump Back Whales had been spotted in the area. He drove us out to the rumored spot, and there they were. Two parents and a baby! They were the most awesome animals I've ever seen. So huge, and yet so graceful! I was so engrossed in watching them I forgot my camera-until Sweet Hubby said something to me. I took several pics. These two are my favorite.

Mom on the left. Baby is the small dark grey spot just on the right of Mom.

Daddy waving his fluke. (Sorry this pic is a little bit blurry.)

Las Calitas was gorgeous. Golden sands and lush jungle. We started with a buffet lunch that was fantastic! Barbecued Chicken, Mexican style, and all kinds of delicious salads and side dishes. Our table was right on the beach, as you can see. It was probably one of the most beautiful spots I've ever eaten lunch at a table.

After lunch, I went snorkeling. I had my prescription snorkel mask with me and I was dying to try it out. It was great! The water was just thick with beautiful fish of every shape, size, and color. I enjoyed it so much that's all I did while we were there. By the time the horn sounded for us to return to the boat I was exhausted. So I didn't drink any Martguerita's on the way back cos I was afraid I'd fall asleep.

Soon we returned to the ship and got underway for Cabo San Lucas. We had a beautiful view of the sunset from the balcony of our stateroom. Sweet Hubby took this pic.

New Years Eve ended up being kind of a bummer. We got all dressed up for dinner, went to dinner, caught a show after dinner (the comedians on the ship were wonderful), and then everyone crashed and burned. Sweet Hubby collapsed on the bed and fell asleep almost immediately. He had no energy left for a party. Dan and Sue went to bed. They were a pathetic bunch.

A few minutes later I noticed Ruth was out on the balcony. She was crying. She had been looking forward to cheering in the New Year on the ship and we were copping out on her. I felt really bad about it, so I grabbed her hand and asked her where she wanted to celebrate.

There were two main parties. One on the top deck by the pool. One down on deck 4 in the main atrium. This one was the official Captains party. My question was "Do you wanna go up to the one on deck so when the wave comes we can jump off? Or do you wanna go down in the Atrium with the captain and plan on climbing our way out?" (Reference to the movie Poseidon) This made her laugh.

We decided to go to our favorite bar on the ship. It's called the Spinnaker Lounge and it's on deck 12. When we arrived, they were handing out party hats, and noise makers. Up on stage were 5 guys in their underwear wearing bras on their heads. The cruise director was MC-ing some kind of what looked like a weird contest.

Now, most mothers accompanying their 20 year old daughter to a bar and seeing 5 guys with nothing on but underwear and bra-ish head wear up on a stage prancing around would have turned and run screaming from the place. But this was a very special New Years Eve for said daughter, so I decided to brave the elements and found a table up near the stage. I ordered a couple Apple martini's for us, and we began our celebration. The guys had to put their clothes back on (whew!), and then dancing started. Ruth and I just sat watching everyone and drinking Apple Martinis. We both love to sit and watch people. In a bar it can be entertaining. It was very entertaining, and we laughed a lot. We toasted 2008 in with Apple martinis, and then we called it a night and went to bed. It wasn't the celebration we had hoped for, but it sufficed.

The morning of January 1, 2008 we found ourselves coming into Cabo San Lucas. This is a pic of the famous 'arch' as you come into port. Cabo was a beautiful place.

We had no shore excursion planned for this one. We decided to hit the shore on our feet and shop til' we drop. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't take my camera with me. I wanted to SHOP, and shop we did!

We found a place that was sort of an artists market with dozens and dozens of booths filled with items made by the locals. I found a beautiful hand made silver bracelet with swarovski crystals on it that I just had to have. Sweet Hubby glommed onto a hand carved domino's set made of wood that he suddenly couldn't live without (even though we already own 2 domino sets which he has never played with). We found gifts to take home to friends and family. I would say we spent at least 3 hours in that place looking at everything. It was fascinating.

At lunch time we found a nice cafe with tables along the water where we ate a very tasty lunch of fajitas and chicken enchiladas (except for Ruth, who insisted on tacos-there's gotta be one in every crowd). Oh yes, and Marguerita's and beer. Then we headed back to the ship.

The next two days we were at sea headed back to L.A. I finally got to enjoy some of the good stuff on the ship, like the swimming pool, and the jacuzzi. I laid out on a lounger in the sun on the Promenade deck and read a good mystery novel. I knitted a little bit (4 whole rows!) on my I Love Gansey sock. I attended the shows. I saw dancers and singers and professional comedians, and I ate.

There is no shortage of good food on a cruise ship. It's everywhere. It's available 24 hours a day. If you can't go get it, there's a phone in your room so you can get someone to bring it to you. I made up for lost time on those two days I was so sick! And I found something better than cheesecake. A little concoction called Mocha Creme Brulee. There are no words to describe the ecstasy this concoction produces in the human mouth.

Eventually we docked and found ourselves back on United States soil. It's a funny thing about that. When you get on a cruise ship, you spend the first two days reeling and swaying along the hallways and decks like a drunkard, even though you may not be drunk. That's cos the ship rocks on the water and throws you off your balance. But after awhile, you adjust to the rocking and you don't even notice it. Everyone stops listing (except the drunkards, of course) and life is grand. But, when you step on land, suddenly everything is rocking.

In the brain you know the ground could not possibly be rocking cos it's ground! But it sure feels like it's moving. So for the next day or two you reel back and forth like a drunkard until you adjust to not moving anymore.

We reeled and swayed our way through customs. The customs agent took our passports, asked us if we were all related, and then stared at us intently. Finally, he said to me "When's his birthday?" pointing at my husband. I totally didn't expect that. Usually what you hear is 'What's your mothers maiden name?" I couldn't quite believe I'd heard him right so I asked him to repeat the question. He repeated it, and I gave him the answer. Then I thought "Oh no! What if he asks Sweet Hubby when my birthday is?" Yikes! We'll end up in prison and eventually deported for sure cos he never can remember when my birthday is!" Instead, he turned to Ruth and asked her what hospital/city she was born in and if I was her mother. Whew! What a relief! We were then told we could enter the country.

We headed straight for the car rental agency, picked up our van, packed 17 pieces of luggage and 6 people into said van and headed for Disneyland.

We spent 3 glorious days there. They were glorious because it rained just enough. Californians are afraid of rain. I should know. I lived there for 10 years. I was born and raised in the Seattle, WA area though. If we were afraid of rain there, we'd never have left our homes.

It wasn't even really rain. More like a constant drizzle. You know, the rain that gets everything wet, except you if you keep moving about. It was just enough to keep the crowds away and the temperatures perfect. We didn't have to wait in lines for much of anything. We rode just about every ride in the two parks-Disneyland and California Experience. It was a great deal of fun.

This is a pic of the train station just inside the Disneyland entrance. Mickey mouse is made of purple and white Sweet Allysum. The red flourishes on each side are Red Poinsettias. Real ones, actually planted in the ground. You wouldn't dare do that here in north Idaho!

This is me, Ruth, and my favorite employee of Monsters, Inc, Sully.

All in all, even though I got horribly sick and Acapulco was such a sucky place, I had a good time on my vacation. Las Calitas was my favorite shore excursion. Seeing real live Humpbacks was the thrill of a lifetime. And I've found a dessert better than cheesecake.

Now, I have been beading and knitting since I got home, despite being sick. We'll get caught up on that in the next day or two.

1/18/08

I was gonna post part 2 of the Cruise report, but something unexpected happened.

Moose!

Haven't seen hide nor hair of a moose since sweet hubby bought me the pistol. Today it's a beautiful day out. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and the snow is deep and sparkley. And standing right in the middle of it, in the side yard, was a great big huge bull moose, antlers and all.

Yessss!!!!!!!

Did I run for the camera? I did not! I got my pistol. Now we find out if the plan will work. I cocked the gun, unsnapped the safety, aimed, and fired! Darn! Nothing happened. It's undo the safety first, then cock the gun. Lets try this again-as the moose gazes at me with curiosity. That's it baby, move that nice fat rump around my way....

Cock, aim, FIRE! Ha! I missed him by 2 inches-but the paint ball hit the hard snow just past him. The noise startled him. He took off. I shot at him 4 more times. Don't know if I hit him or not, but he kept moving and that's what's important.

1/16/08

I have finally beaten off the bugs and viruses lurking around here. It's nice to feel human again. I thought I'd do my little report on the cruise. I didn't take a lot of pictures cos I found myself wanting to do rather than taking pictures of others doing. But here's a few of what I've got.

We left Christmas Day, flying down to LAX. The flight went very smoothly (unlike the return home). We spent the night in a hotel across the street from the Pier. The next morning I opened the curtains and the ship was there. We got pretty excited.

The view outside our hotel window

We couldn't board until 1pm, so we had to kill some time. There was a Mariners museum across the street too, so we visited it. It was pretty interesting. This is a large propeller from a ship. Doug, Ruth, and nephew Nathan posed.

After we boarded the ship, we went straight to the buffet and had lunch. Then we hung out on the deck until we shipped out.

We ate our first dinner in the main dining room. I had the best roast leg of lamb ever. It was so delicious. I can't describe the pleasure I had in eating my Bavarian Chocolate Cream for dessert either. Yum.....However, one hour later I started to feel sick. By the next morning I was very very sick. I haven't been that sick in a long long long time. I was so sick I wanted to die. Sweet Hubby finally insisted I see the doctor. I was so weak though that I couldn't walk all the way to the infirmary (other end of ship and 4 decks down), so they sent someone with a wheelchair.

The doctor confirmed my worst fear. I had the dreaded virus often caught on cruise ships, Norovirus. I caught it in less than 8 hours too. It's pretty contagious stuff. I found it hard to believe cos I washed my hands all the time, and everywhere we went on the ship nice young poeple in NCL uniforms were spraying our hands with antibacterial lotion (yech!). The good news, though, was that I would live to tell about it. I was actually relieved to hear that. I worried that Doug and Ruth would get sick too, but they didn't.

I spent the two days at sea in bed in our stateroom, missing out on all the fun and food. Sigh. The illness really knocked the spit out of me. I was so weak it took several days for me to get my strength back, so I had a hard time enjoying myself when I felt so crappy. However, as the days went by, I continually improved, and the cruise got more fun.

Our first stop was Acapulco. Didn't like it. Acapulco smelled bad-from the balcony of our stateroom. It stunk like a garbage dump. It's got almost 3 million people living there, crowded, poor, and living in garbage. We had a shore excursion that required a bus trip to our destination--a freshwater lake for kayaking and lunch. We got a real good look at what Mexican poverty is like on that bus ride. People living in tiny hovels, filth everywhere, and the garbage. Every spare spot that didn't have a building or a car on it was piled high with vile stinking garbage. It was a filthy stinky city.

Our shore excursion was a disaster. Our ship was 2 hours late getting to port, so they decided to combine our group with another group. Poor decision. This was supposed to be a quick trip by bus to a quiet little jungle lagoon where we would kayak around and be fed lunch. 3 hours max. HA!

First, it was a large lake with power boats and jet ski's all over the place. Very noisy.

There were not enough kayaks. So we had to divide up into groups. Our group waited 2 hours before it was our turn. We sat at tables in a really charming open air restaurant right on the lake.

Sweet hubby chatting.

After awhile we got thirsty. It was a hot day, and we'd been waiting a long time, so Sweet Hubby and Dan started taking turns buying stuff from the bar. I had a very tasty mexican beer.

When it was our turn, we approached the waters edge. Someone handed me a child sized life jacket. I protested. He said "It's okay. Just for government, safety." He then handed me a paddle that was broken and held together with duct tape, and told me to get in the kayak. I complied. I could hardly paddle cos the life jacket was so tight around my shoulders I couldn't put my arms down. There was no back on the seat of the kayak either, so I had to lean forward with my knees up in the air. Really uncomfortable with my arms up. After about 2 minutes my back seized up into agonizing pain. I told our esteemed guide there was no way in heck I was going anywhere in that kayak with that equipment, and I got back on shore. They left without me.

I waited about half an hour for the group to return. They got back just after the sunset. Then the last group got to go--in the dark. I was glad we weren't them. After that group returned we were finally served our lunch. It was 6pm. It consisted of a couple chicken enchiladas. That was it. Good, but 3 hours past when we were supposed to have it, it wasn't enough.

We then boarded the bus back. Traffic was INSANE! It took 2 hours to get back to the ship. By then I was very unhappy. Our 3 hour little kayak trip (on the non-existent jungle lagoon) turned into a 6 hour misery. We got back on board the ship, and couldn't leave Acapulco fast enough.

The next day we arrived in Zihuatenejo. Oh what a wonderful little place. It's very clean, smells wonderful, and had the most delightful little shops along the beach. It was beautiful, too, with palm trees, white sand, jungle, and the water was so blue. The guys (Doug and Dan) were scheduled to go deep sea fishing. Ruth and I had decided to go with them. Big mistake.

Leaving Zihuatenejo on the fishing boat.

I don't know what I thought I'd be doing , but it wasn't what we did. Deep sea fishing consists of 5 hours of tourists, in this case me, Ruth, Doug, Dan, and a fellow from Arizona named George, sitting on seats in the fishing boat while the cute Mexican guy loads bait on all the hooks, sets up all the poles, and gets everyone beer. Five hours of just sitting, drinking beer (or water-like me and Ruth did. I can't drink beer at 8 in the morning) while he did all the work and the captain steers back and forth, back and forth-hoping to snag a fish. Ruth and I were bored out of our minds. I kept asking myself "Why didn't I bring my knitting?"

Sweet hubby says "Ahhh, this is the life"

Lest you think we were skunked, we weren't. One of the poles had a silver fish on it for bait. As we trolled across the water, it bounced on the surface, flashing it's silveriness in the sunshine. A sea gull flew by. It saw the bouncing fish. I thought "Uh oh---naaaaaa, it wouldn't do that" just a nano second before the gull dived for the bait and got its wings all tangled up in the line. Cute Mexican fellow reeled it in, untangled it, and it flew away-hopefully a little smarter.

We got no bites from fish. As we were returning back to the dock, the cute little Mexican fellow passed out comment forms. I said what I felt. I was bored to death (I would have liked to learn how to bait the hooks, and hold a pole once in awhile. There were pole holders on the boat. Pole holders ! No human had to hold them. It was depressing). Eventually I found myself holding all the filled out forms. I couldn't resist. I read what the guys wrote. "Excellent, excellent, great fun, loved it!"

1/11/08

I have been sick with the flu since Tuesday evening. Feeling like death warmed over. So todays post is a Fridays Feast.

AppetizerWhat is your middle name? Would you change any of your names if you could? If so, what would you like to be called?

Jo. No, I love my name. I'm named after both my parents. I went nameless for a few days after my birth. The story I was told is that my parents didn't have a name chosen yet when I was born. One of my Aunts wanted to name me Josephine so she could call me Jojo. Thank the Gods my parents didn't fall for that one. Anyway, they both wanted me to be named after them so there was much arguing and disagreement. Then someone (another Aunt I think) came up with Linda Jo. Linda for my Mom-Ulinda, and Jo for my Dad-Joseph.

SoupIf you were a fashion designer, which fabrics, colors, and styles would you probably use the most?

Lots of purples, silks, rayons, really drapey fabrics, and of course knits. I love knitted fabric with lots of textures like cables and lace. I would create lots of styles that look good on fat people.

SaladWhat is your least favorite chore, and why?

Laundry. So boring and endless.

Main CourseWhat is something that really frightens you, and can you trace it back to an event in your life?

Doing something that might hurt my back. I can trace it back to the summer of my 9th year of life when I was up in the cherry tree eating cherries. The branch I was standing on broke and I fell, breaking my back. I was paralyzed from the neck down for about 3 hours. Then everything came back-which is a miracle. I greatly appreciate my ability to walk. I've had back trouble ever since. A few years ago I seriously injured it again and had surgery on my back. I worry about accidentally doing something that will land me back into surgery cos it was so excruciatingly painful.

DessertWhere are you sitting right now? Name 3 things you can see at this moment.

In Sweet Hubby's recliner, using his computer.1) The tv.2) The Christmas tree (which I've decided is staying up until February cos my eyes need the color)3) Morgan sleeping in Tommy's bed (now just wait one darn minute here!)

1/8/08

I guess you could call todays post a rant and a whine. I am having a hard time adjusting to being home. I wanna go back to the warm tropical climate full of bright colors. Winter here is cold and colorless, unless you consider white, grey, and black colors. The fact that it took almost an hour to dig my car out of the snow to go get the boys didn't help. And then, later, I stepped in a hidden hole (snow does that) on my way to getting into Sweet Hubby's pick up truck, twisted my ankle, and fell into a snowbank. (We didn't know I could curse like that.) This morning I'm bruised, with a swollen ankle, and I'm really pissed at Camp K-9 kennels.

I have two beautiful Italian Greyhounds who are used to being coddled. They require being covered in blankets two thirds of the day, and they are very clean dogs. I rarely have to bathe them. When I picked the boys up they stunk something awful! Tommy had dried yellow urine spots all over his now-grey fur. (I actually cried when I saw how dirty they were.)I could hardly stand to be in the car with them they smelled so bad.

I was handed two doggy beds that had been 'chewed' apart. They weren't chewed. They were clawed. Reason? Their blankets were taken away from them, so the boys clawed the bottom of their beds trying to cover themselves up. Why were the blankets taken away? "Because they kept peeing on them." Why, I ask, would my dogs pee on their own blankets? Then I was told about how they were continually marking everything even to peeing in their own food dishes! I'm HORRIFIED! My boys have NEVER done something like that. Not even when staying at a kennel. What did they do to my boys to stress them out that much?

I was handed a garbage bag with their blankets-soaked in pee and so dirty I was not quite sure they'd come clean. What the.....??? I am pissed!

My conclusion. My boys were put in a cage and pretty much left there. They definitely weren't kept in clean cages. My dogs are fastidious. You don't get that dirty in a clean cage. I even wonder if they let them outside enough to go potty. That's probably why the constant peeing in the cage. They were not taken care of in the manner they usually are in a kennel, that's for sure. I've never picked them up in that condition before. Never! I'm never using that kennel again!

Now, about the nightmare flight home. On Saturday morning, we got up extra early and hoofed it over to Disneyland. We had tickets that got us in at 8am. We spent the morning riding rides and having fun. It was great because it was raining lightly, so the crowds were scared away. We didn't have to wait to ride anything. It was so much fun! We rode just about every ride in the park before noon, but I figure I walked at least 25 miles that morning.

After lunch we headed to LAX airport. Our Southwest airline flight was scheduled to depart at 5:30pm. We got to the airport at 3:00, two and a half hours before our flight. We came upon chaos! We don't know what was causing it, but the lines to check in luggage at the Southwest counters went all the way out the door and clear down the street at least a quarter mile! I'm not exaggerating. It was insane! Sis in law Sue tried to find out what was going on, but no one seemed to know, or even care. One Southwest clerk told her they were rescheduling peoples flights, but had no explanation why, and if we ended up missing our plane because of the line, they'd just reschedule us. Sue gave her some choice words. She didn't accept them. Sigh...

We had our boarding passes already, so we chose to use the curbside baggage check-in under the circumstances. It was the 'short' line, but still, we stood in that line for 2 hours and 35 minutes! Our bags finally got checked 5 minutes after our flight was scheduled to leave.

We ran to security, where we were delayed because my daughter forgot to take her bottle of sunblock lotion out of her bag. (My God, you'd think she'd tried to assassinate the president!). Finally got through security and ran to the gate-which, of course, was the one furthest away, literally all the way to the end of the terminal (possibly in Florida-sigh). Got there, and hurray! Our plane had been delayed 20 minutes. We made it on!

From that point on, everything went fairly smoothly, except for the agonizing pain in my feet and legs. I suffered all the way home. Too much walking I think. Oh, and we were delayed an hour in Oakland while they tried to talk someone, anyone, into giving up their seat for 200 bucks and a ticket voucher (forget it!). I resented being held hostage over that.

The plane from Oakland to Spokane was fully booked. In fact, there was an airline employee sitting behind me who was forced to sit in the cockpit so they could give his seat to someone else. And then there was the young couple two rows up from me who had PAID for a seat for their baby and were forced to keep the baby in their laps so someone else could have the seat. Boy, that mama was ticked off! (I would be too!) But the flight attendant would not back down.

Finally, we landed in Spokane and went to pick up our bags. HA! The bags didn't make it. None of them. We filed the lost luggage claim, but were told by the snotty lady because our bags were checked in late they would not guarantee us ever seeing them again. That's when Sweet Hubby lost it. He laid into the snotty lady royally. Sweet Hubby rarely loses his temper. I can count on one hand the number of times he's done so in the 25 years we've been married. You have to really push him hard to accomplish it. The snotty lady found the button. (It was not our fault they were checked in late. We stood in line for 2.5 hours!) By the time he got done with her, she'd changed her attitude and became much more helpful not just for us, but everyone else in line the rest of the night. Yay Hubby!

Anyway, there were two more Southwest flights coming in from LAX before midnight (which was less than an hour away) so we decided to wait and see if our bags showed up. They didn't, so the now-not-snotty lady said they'd bring them out to our house after they were found. The bags showed up around 5pm Sunday evening, reeking of someone else's perfume, but safe and sound and delivered by a very nice gentleman.

I remember the days when flying was a pleasant experience, and the service was really good.

When I opened the prodigal suitcases, I was not happy at what I found. I bought a large clay platter in Mexico which I very carefully wrapped and packed so it would not get broken. It was chipped. Security had taken it out and not packed it back in the bag the way it was. They just tossed it in on top of the clothes. If they had, it wouldn't have been chipped. A second bag clearly had been completely dumped out. Sweet Hubby bought a beautiful set of hand carved dominoes stored in a little log. They had been dumped out and were rattling around the case. Fortunately, none were missing. Someone else's perfume was spilled on the bags too cos they reek of it. I understand the need to search bags, but how about a little respect for others property while you're at it?

In the good news department. We went and picked up Sweet Hubby's Christmas present that I got him (I had Best Buy hold it until our return). He is now the very very very proud owner of a large flat screen plasma television. I've never bought him such an expensive gift before, but he SO deserves it! He is such a wonderful husband and father he deserves the best the world has to offer. He's pretty happy right now.

Well, I want to go to bead group this morning so I better get hoppin'. Awww...darn! More snow is falling. We are getting buried here!

1/7/08

I am back from my Mexican adventure. My brain is still foggy from the nightmare flight home on Saturday. But at least we made it back.

The trip was awesome. It cleared out the 2007 garbage from my brain, and got me all ready for 2008 life adventures in store for me.

I did get my new camera for Christmas and I absolutely love it. It does what I wanted and then some! I took pictures on my vacation, but I need to install some software on my laptop and whatnot to get them off my camera and into the computer. I will post all about the trip through out the next few days.

Yesterday was my first full day home. I was an exhausted zombie. Saturday had been an extremely busy and stressful day. Between that and 3 days of hoofing it around Disneyland, it all caught up with me and I was totally non-functioning. Sweet Hubby, Ruthie, and I spent the day stretched out snoozing through DVD movies most of the day, though Sweet Hubby did spend about 3 hours clearing the mountains of snow out of the driveway that fell while we were gone. (We've got well over 2 feet and more on it's way later today.)

Today I need to get my boys from the kennel, pick up the mail being held at the post office (I'm hoping the book with the Gnome pattern in it will be there), and start the tons of laundry that needs doing. So this will have to suffice for the first blog post of 2008.